Daring to write frankly about race

New York Times

Published 11:15 am, Friday, July 12, 2013

Photo: LEFTERIS PITARAKIS

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Writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie of Nigeria, winner of the Prize for Fiction Award for her second novel 'Half of a Yellow Sun', poses for the photographers prior to the ceremony, in central London, Wednesday June 6, 2007. The other short listed authors were: Rachel Cusk, Kiran Desai, Xiaolu Guo, Jane Harris, and Anne Tyler. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) ORG XMIT: LLP118 less

Writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie of Nigeria, winner of the Prize for Fiction Award for her second novel 'Half of a Yellow Sun', poses for the photographers prior to the ceremony, in central London, Wednesday ... more

Photo: LEFTERIS PITARAKIS

Daring to write frankly about race

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In her first two novels, "Purple Hibiscus" and "Half of a Yellow Sun," the award-winning Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie explored the history and contemporary life of her home country.

Her new novel, "Americanah," is set in both Africa and the United States. The story follows Ifemelu, a young Nigerian woman who moves to America and finds some fame writing a candid blog about issues of race and nationality. In a recent email interview, Adichie discussed the state of American fiction, her approach to writing about race and more. These are excerpts from the conversation:

Q: One character in "Americanah" says that when black American authors write about race, they "have to make sure it's so lyrical and subtle that the reader who doesn't read between the lines won't even know it's about race." Would you say that your book is in some ways a response to this?

A: The character was talking about African-American, rather than African or American-African writers, and this distinction is also partly what the novel is about. I think "Americanah" is a response of sorts, but it is complicated by my not being African-American. I could have done "Americanah" differently, in a way that was safer. I know the tropes. I know how race is supposed to be dealt with in fiction (you can do a "novel of ideas" about baseball, but not about race, because it becomes "hectoring"), but I wanted to write the kind of novel about race that I wanted to read.

Still, there is a certain privilege in my position as somebody who is not an American, who is looking in from the outside. When I came to the U.S., I became fascinated by the many permutations of race, especially of blackness, the identity I was assigned in America. I still am fascinated.

Q: Did you feel you had to live in the United States a certain amount of time before you approached it in fiction?

A: I don't believe in writing what I don't know. So I feel, having lived in the U.S. off and on for a number of years, that I can tell a story partly about America. That said, the setting of my fiction isn't a primary consideration for me. Character and story come first.

Q: Ifemelu, one of the two main characters in "Americanah," is, like you, a Nigerian-born writer who moves to the United States and eventually receives a fellowship at Princeton. Aside from these details, is there a deeper autobiographical connection you feel with her?

A: Ifemelu spends 13 years in the U.S. before moving back to Nigeria. I spent only four years in the U.S. before I went back, and have since lived in both countries. That is a significant difference, as much of Ifemelu's character is shaped by being disconnected from home for so long. I quite like that she is a female character who is not safe and easily likable, who is both strong and weak, both prickly and vulnerable.

I love fiction that has something to say and doesn't "hide behind art," novels that feel true, that are not self-conscious experiments.